The present invention relates to a device as well as a method for forming a sausage tail on a casing material that receives a filling product, in particular sausage meat, and more particularly relates to a device and method for forming a second sausage tail.
In particular, the invention relates to a device for forming a sausage tail on a casing material that receives a filling product, in particular sausage meat, wherein the sausage tail at least approximately does not contain filling product while being formed and wherein the device contains a feeding path for the casing material, which extends in an at least approximately linear direction, along which the sausage tail is formed, a supply unit for receiving a supply of empty casing material and a first unit for forming sausage tails that is capable of acting on the casing material in direction of the feeding path for forming a first sausage tail length by pulling off the casing material from the supply. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for forming a sausage tail on a casing material that receives a filling product, in particular sausage meat, wherein the sausage tail at least approximately does not contain filling product while being formed and wherein the method includes the following steps: pushing forward a casing material that is pulled off from a supply of empty casing material along a feeding path for the casing material, which is at least approximately linear and forming a first sausage tail length along the feeding path by means of a first unit for forming sausage tails. This method in particular serves for operating the device mentioned above.
In the production of sausages and other foodstuff with casings made of foil material, e.g., cooked ham, in many cases it is desirable that the packaging of the foodstuff that is ready for consumption has another cross section than the typically round cross section. Frequently, a quadrangular, rectangular or square, cross section is desirable, for example, when used as a filling for a toast. For such approximately quadrangular packages, the filled casing is pressed after the closing process in a respective mould for obtaining its final cross section, wherein this final cross section is stabilized, e.g., by cooking. Since the perimeter of a quadrangular cross section is larger than that of a round cross section, such casing must not be filled completely. The package, which is not filled up to the possible volume and which therefore is a slack package, however has to be substantially free from air since inclusions of air can be harmful to the filling product.
For producing packages, which are only loosely filled and which are closed such that they are substantially free from air, different methods are known (DE-A 22 54 943, DE-A 22 10 054, DE-A 20 54 441). These methods however have certain disadvantages.
For avoiding these disadvantages, a method known from the European patent application 0 065 807 proposes that the required additional casing material for such incompletely filled packages by pulling off further unfilled casing material is made possible due to the fact that pressing plates act on the package, which at first is only filled partially, but tautly. This method is only appropriate for pasty masses that can be displaced by the pressing plates. In packages that are loosely filled, e.g., according to this method, the end of the package is drawn through an opening of a respective size for forming an extended sausage tail, wherein said opening can also be formed by the partially opened pairs of displacement arms (DE-A 35 05 375).
Furthermore, German patent 38 40 522 discloses a method for forming a sausage tail on a sausage casing that receives a sausage meat. This method is applied in a sausage clipping machine, the structure of which is largely conventional. Herein, after filling the sausage casing with the sausage meat, two pairs of displacement arms are closed, such that a portion of the sausage casing that receives the sausage meat as well as an empty portion of the sausage casing are formed. Subsequently, the pair of displacement arms that is closest to the free end of the closed sausage casing is moved along the feeding path of the sausage casing material such that the portion of the sausage casing, which is filled with the sausage meat, is moved in feeding direction of the sausage casing material and simultaneously, empty sausage casing material is being pulled after by the second pair of displacement arms. This empty sausage casing material forms the desired sausage tail. As soon as the required sausage tail length is achieved, a second clip is set on the side of the second pair of displacement arms that does not point to the first pair of displacement arms and subsequently, the sausage casing material is separated off.
In this method, which already functions quite well, a desirable improvement would be the non-limitation of the length of the sausage tail that is determined by the traveling path of the second pair of displacement arms. Due to the linear movement, a relatively large installation space for the machine is required in total. If a larger sausage tail length is required, it is quite possible that this known device is not sufficient.